The success of the French far-right in local elections shows that a vote for the National Front (FN) is no longer a protest vote as the party is being heard on subjects other than immigration, Ludovic De Danne, aide to FN leader Marine le Pen told RT.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and his team resigned on Monday after the Socialist party's poor
result in the elections. The cabinet will be headed by Interior
Minister Manuel Valls.

"I have understood your message, it is clear," French
President Francois Hollande said in a televised message,
acknowledging the sluggish French economy 22 months after his
election. "Not enough change and too much slowness. Not
enough jobs and too much unemployment. Not enough social justice
and too many taxes... I say it once again: we have to get our
country back on the right track."

RT:Some major success for your party, what
made it possible?

Ludovic De Danne: We’ve made a major
improvement. In 2008 we had 85 local councilors, now we have more
than 1,500 and we will be happy to rule more than 11 to 13 cities
in France. This is due to the fact that we have been heard on
other subjects than immigration and security. We have been heard
on socioeconomic issues. We have been talking about the next
future European elections, but on the local grounds it looks like
citizens more and more want to give us a chance to be ruling and
to do a better job than has been done by the actual parties in
France.

RT:There has been success for the far right
in other parts of Europe as well, are the reasons all the
same?

LD: There is a general trend across Europe for
patriotic parties as we call them and it is true that there will
be a massive result in the next European elections we believe.
Not only with us but with our future allies I guess.

RT:How do you respond to critics who say
that you are running on the politics of hate?

LD: Well this is the usual demonization process,
the point that is not working anymore, because as you can see the
results in France, we’re making major improvements to the
situation. We have brought young candidates or very experienced
people. We are attracting a lot more elite than before; our
campaigns are serious, responsible and professional, when you
don’t have anybody else in front of you, the only good thing you
want to say against somebody is to say that he is labeled as an
extremist or hatred. Well, it’s not enough today, we can see that
the government has been completely thrown up in these elections
and that the Conservatives will not make it better work, or a
better job and will not have very good results for the European
elections.

RT:Do you accept that your success is
mostly down to the protest vote, and your chances in the next
parliamentary election are small?

LD: As I said in 2008, we had 85 local
councilors, now we’ll have more than 1500 and ruling 10-13
cities. This is not a protest vote anymore, it is clearly
something which has been deeply rooted and we have been running
for these elections in several cities for years now, even for
decades and now we are arriving to power. So the first step which
is local elections is a very good result. The next step is going
to be European elections and we are asking the French government
that they will call for national elections beforehand because the
situation is showing that we’re not represented anymore in the
National Assembly.